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Strawberries

Re: Strawberries

I would expect so, IF you have about 10,000+ flowers on them; otherwise it might not be enough of a nectar source to even draw their attention. ... Drawback to honey bees as pollinators is that they're so "mass market" about stuff; doesn't take 30,000 employees to pollinate 50 roses

Re: Strawberries

Re: Strawberries

Most strawberry cultivars display a high degree of self-pollination, so those guys don't pay beeks for pollination. A huge number of adjacent hives and no other flowers in town would increase the set a bit, but the flowers have little attraction to bees. It would benefit the strawberry grower to really know his cultivar varieties and how much bee pollination increases his yield for each one. It is not outside the realm of possibility that bee pollination could pay off if it seems that a flower set is not producing fruit, but the price would likely have to be very low.

Out here in California, the strawberry prices are slowly being ruined as former citrus and avocado orchards are being converted to row crops due to the NAFTA trade agreement (thank you, Jimmy Carter). It is now cheaper to move to Brazil, cut down the rain forest, grow oranges there, and ship them here. Those who got out of lemons in time and still had some money in the bank went to the double-graft of either Duke 7, Dusa, or Toro Canyon/Haas avocado that tolerates avocado root rot, those that didn't adapt are now trying their hand at strawberries or rotating row crops - celery, lettuce, cilantro, etc. It's getting hard to find oranges for honey. This has been going on for some time, now. The only winners were the land clearing companies.

Re: Strawberries

Interesting about strawberry pollination in central Florida...which cultivars and hows the price? All year (= 4 crops) or 3 season? Different prices each season (winter crop is usually just to give the workers some hourly out here)?

Re: Strawberries

Bunch of local guys here grow strawberries. Plant city is known for its berries. They have an annual strawberry festival. Some bigger Plant city growers ship all around the country.They plant around winter time. Pick several times. Pollination is usually 40 to 50 bucks a hive. And yes, the yield and size is better with bee pollination